Gum-wrapping machine.



H. J. KEMP?.

GUM WRAPPING MACHINE,

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 22, 1911 1,060,988. Patented May 6, 1913.

4 SHEETSMSHEET l,

H. J. KEMP?.

GUM WRAPPING MACHINE.

AFPLIGATION FILED JULY 22,1911.

' s 1,060,983. Patenteamay, 1913,

4 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

A TTOKNEY.

Pa'nted May 6, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

IV/TNESSES:

f1/VEN TOR,

A TTORNEY.

H. J. KBMPP.

GUM WRAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1911.

Patented May 6, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

OQ# VVE/V701@ jnry J fiom/Uf B A TTORNEY.

To all whom t may concern.' I

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE. y

HENEY J. KEMPE, or SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASsIeNoE To BERGER MACHINE COMPANY, 0E SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS', A CORPORATION.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented May 6, 1913.

Application fnea'my 22,1911. serial No. 639,917. y

Be it known that I, HENRY J. KEMPF,a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State'of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Gum-Wrappingv Machines, of which the fol-v lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to package wrapping. machines and specifically to improvements in a machine adapted to wrap up in one package a plurality1 of articles of uni-A form size, such as chewing gum put up in rectangular pieces,.each piece of which is first separately inclosed in a suitable wrapper. A good embodiment of a machine forthis work is found in the'United States pat- .ent issued. to A. M. Price on'December 7, z1909 and numbered 942,101, and the-present invention consists in certain improvements applied to the machine describedin said patent, having the characteristics and functions of the `mechanism heretofore referred to, whereby the same result is attained as in said Price patent, but by improved means or devices which relate to' certain steps in the operation of packaging together a'number of articles of uniform size each of which is first separately inclosed in its own wrapper or wrappers. Only as much of the said Pricermachine'is shown and described in this :application as is necessary to a complete understanding of the structure and function of the improvements applied thereto.

The object of the invention-is to provide means whereby, in the assemblage of 'ther number of articles constituting the complete package, the last one of the articles addedl to the ackage will be so placed or manipulated tiia't theinfolded ends of the wrapper of said last piece and the ends of the wra 1n glaged yin Contact face toface to hold the end folds in place. Heretofore, this has been done by feeding into the machine to be packaged say four sticks of gum having theend folds of their wrappers all facing in one direction,'then when the fifth stickls fed in, rovidin means to turn this stick so that its end olds will face t-he other way vor toof the next preceding piece will e` four sticks.

In the present invention means are'provided to'rjeverse ,the end folds of every fth stick instead of reversing the stick, thus accomplishing the Same object as if the vend folds were all folded the sameway and the stick reversed; but these improvements have this advantage that-it is not only more simple to reverse the end folds of the wrappers than to reverse the every fifth wrapped 11p stick, and it does not necessitate carryingthe stick out of its line ofmovement through the machine. x

In the drawings forming part of this application,-Figure 1 is a side elevation of the wheel having equally spaced peripheral pockets to receive the individual .sticks of' gum to be wrapped, together with the wrapping mechanism therefor,`and another wheel into the peripheral pockets of -which these sticks are fed in groups forming the final package, and the transfer mechanism between these wheels; this view also shows applied there/to the wrapper mechanism for the final package and the gumming devices for sealing .the wrapper of the final package. Fig.. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a part of the wheelfor receiving the individual sticks of gum and illustrating more in detail' the mechanism. for consecutively folding theends of the wrappers of a certain number of sticks in the same direction and then reversing the end-fold of the wrapper on one stick. Fig. 3 is a pers ective view of certainv parts 'of the eridolding mechanism shown in Fig. 2, Showing the means employed for reversing the fold of the 'end of the wrapper.

Figgl is a sectional viewof that part of the wheel shown in Fig.. 2 in the plane of line 1 -4, on said figure, looking to the right.,v Fig. 5 is a simil-ar view to Fig. 4 showing the fold-re- /versing mechanism in-a different positionf Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the complete assemblage of sticks of gum showing four of the latter with. their end-folds in one po`- sition with the end-fold ofthe last stick reversed. Fig. 7 is a section taken onl line 7 7, Fig. 2, showing the position o f a stick 0f gum in the fold reversing devices )ust ward the end folds of the last of the other prior to the infolding of the ends thereof. Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a part of the wheel receiving the single sticks of gum and shows the transferring mechanism whereby these single sticks are grouped in bunches of ve, preparatory to being introduced in one of the pocketsof the wheel in which they are enwrapped to formthe complete package. Fig. 9 is a view like Fig. 8 hut showing the transfer mechanism after it has Vcarried a hunchA of the sticks into the pocket of the wheel in which saidv bunch is inclosed in a wrapper. Certain parts of Figs. 8 and 9 are in section, the plane of this section being indicated by the dotted line 9--9, Fig. 10. Fig. 10 is an elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 9 looking at the latter from the left, this4 view showing the relation of the swinging transfer arm and the curved trough through which the hunched sticks of gum are moved to the wrapping devices in the second wheel. Fig.

1l is an end elevation of the left-hand endl the transfer trough, to hold the sticks inl place while being hunched. Fig. 13 is a;

sectional elevation of the second wheel carrying the wrapping devices inclosing the hunched sticks of gum, and showing4 the gumming devices for said wrappers, the plane of this section being indicated by the h ne 13%13, on Fig. 14. Fig. 14 isV a sectional elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 13 taken at right angles to the latter on the line 14s-14, Fig. 13. These last two figures alsoshow the mechanism for feeding the wrappers-for the hunched sticks to the nippers on the wheel,whereby each of the peripheral pockets in the wheel is covered by a wrapper.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Fig. 1, a is a wheel having equally spaced peripheral pockets b, these pockets being made to receive a single one of the articles of which a predetermined number is to be hunched together and delivered into .a pocket of the wheel c, which is also provided with peripheral pockets al. The

wheel a has a continuous rotative movement` to the left, and the wheel c a step-by-step movement to the right. If five articles are to he hunched together, iive pockets in the wheel a will passa given 'point between each step of the wheel o. Aissetforth in the above referred to Price patent, suitable feeding devices, indicated as a whole by al, located above and to the' right of the wheel n, will feed the single articles to be wrapped into the pockets b of the wheel a, a suitable piece of wrapping material having been first roaches per and down behind the rearmost edge, then sweeping forward viz.,-in the direction of the movement of the wheel, presses the rear edge of the wrapper, indicated h h, down against. the stick of gum and hol s it down until the forward edge of the piecepasses under the end of the IiXed curved stri la, concentric with the wheel', and thus olds the forward edge of the wrapper down over the other edge. the arm g retiring at t-he proper time. The plate L" is supported on two frame pieces Z and m which extend transversely over the wheel a, the farther or left-hand `end of this plate extending a little beyond, and between, two oppositely placed channel plates o, also concentric Qwith the wheel, and which receive the ends of the wrapped sticks. One of these channeled plates is seen in Figs. 2 and 3 and in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and a part of them in Figs. 8 and 9. The ends of the sticks of gum, after the ends of the wrapper have been folded over them, enter and follow` l on the part Z on the shaft p, all of this mech anism being illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7,-Fig. 3 showing, in perspective, it `detached from its place in the machine. .T his mechanism is one of the essential parts of the invention and it comprises two arms Q extending along opposite sides of the eriphery of the wheel n, each having a hu fixed on -the shaft p, and from this shaft an arm 1 extends at substantially a right angle, from which arm a connecting rod s extends hack to the shaft carrying the mechanism indicated by al on which shaft is a cam, not shown, whereby after the wheel a has been rotated step-by-step,` a certain number of times, the cam just referred to will impart a swinging movement to the arms f1, whereby the mechanism, about to be described. car ried on the end of said arms, will shift its position, relative to the path of movement of the single sticks of gum, long enough te bring int-o play the devices whereby the next stick of gum will have the ends of its wrapper folded over a reverse direction from that of a certain 'number of the sticks immediately preceding the kmovement of said arm g. The mechanism just referred to, carried on the end of the arms q, comprises two jaws t and-'v on 'each ofthe arms for folding the ends of the"wrapper over or under the sticks, the jaws being oppositely located and spaced apart; and in the space between the jaws is a roll fw having its end formed into a beveled flange there'being just room between the edge of this flanged head and the jaws t and o'above and below to permit the extended ends of the wrapper to pass, and,`in passing, to have a folding line creased therein. The walls ofthe jaws t and o are so formed with beveled or recurved surfaces jz/ extending into the pat-h of the ends of the wrappers that after the crease line has been formed therein, these ends will be turned over the stick of gum, as the movement of the wheel a carries itbetween the jaws, it being understood that said beveled surface y in the lower jaw o' is so made as to turn the ends of t-he wrapper up and over the stick, and the like surface onr the upper jaw t so formed as to turn them down and under the stick. It is therefore `plain that by holding the arm Q down in such position that the ends of the wrappers of a certain number of sticks will be turned under, and then shifting the arm q so that the next stick will have the ends of its wrapper turned up and over it7 as at 3 Fig. 6,. when a group or bunch of the sticks have been gathered together by this ,transverse mechanism and .shifted into one of the pockets of the wheel c, we shall havethem arranged in said pocket in the manner shown in Fig. G, that is in a manner which will hold the folded ends ot the wrapper on each stick of the bunch against displacement during subsequent operations.

Referring now to the transfer mechanism illustrated in Figs. 8 to 12 inclusive: it will be seen that this comprises a curved trough 3, the upper.end of which lies about opposite the point where each pocket. t) will passy during the rotation of the wheel'a,y while the lower end of the trough will be opposite a pocket d in the wheel c when that ivllng'el;

is at rest. As each of the pockets passes the transfer 'trough` the hooked ,.m j hthe rock-shaft 5 moves down and engages the edge of the stick of gum caught under the lip f of the pocket; the arm e, (which up to this time has held the gum in the pocket) engaging with an operating cam (not shown) and swinging down against the action of a spring (not shown), provides a support for the lower edge of the stick. Owing to the angle of the arm 4 and its relation to its axis, viz.,-the shaft 5,-'it will beso moved that after a slight downward movement, as described, it will swing forward and push the stick of'/ gum past two spring clips 6 located in the path of the ends of the stick and supported on the two side plates 8, which constitute an eX- tension of the two sidesof the trough 3, one of these clips being shown in Fig. 12, the side plate 8 being in section and only one side of the trough being shown. A swinging'frame 9 is hung on a shaft 10 on an arm 12 of the frame, and comprises two arms which are pressed forward byaspring 13 to bring. their ends near the wheel a and just back of the spring clips 6. Beyond, and a little below, these clips are two other clips 14, oppositely located in the plates 8, and having beveled ends which extend into the trough in the path of the sticks of gum, these beveled ends serving to hold up the Aseveral sticks as they are grouped together before being transferred as one piece int-o a pocket of the wheel c. In Fig. 8 a group of these sticks is shown supported on.the clips, or one, of them. The beveled side of these clips is uppermost, as seen in Fig. 10. As the units constituting the group are one by one transferred, as described, from the pockets of the wheel c, they are positidned under the end of another swinging frame 15 mounted on a shaft 16 concentric .with the curved transfer trough 3, and this frame just-fits the space between the two sides of the-latter, and the space between the ends of the two depending arms of the frame 9. The frame 15 is at the proper time given a rocking movement b v means of the gear 17 on the end thereof in mesh with the sector 18, the latter being actuated by a connectingrod 19 extending to a cam not shown.

The sweep of the frame 15 is such as to carry the group 'of sticks through the trough 3 and push the same into a pocket (Z of the wheel e which, at vthe proper time, becomes stationary opposite the delivery end ofthe trough. Then the swinging frame 15 pushes the grouped sticks of gum into the trough. it forces the ends thereof past the beveled ends of the clips 14, which then snap back into position to receive other sticks of gum.

Referring now to Figs. 13 and 14, which illustrate the construction of the wheel c which receives the sticks of gum in groups in the pockets (l, as described, and applies a wrapper thereto, a little narrower than the sticks. leaving the ends of the latter ex- .a hollow spoke 2l of the wheel in which is a proper alinement.

plunger 22 having a rectangular head `23. The plungers 22 are actuated by a cam 2a by means of a stud 25 extending through a.

slot in the spoke and bearing on the edge of the cam, the latter being so formed that at a point substantiallyopposite that at which the package of sticksl of gum is placed in one of the pockets, the plungers 22 will be` successively actuated to expel the package into a straight receiving trough (to be described) and from this point the'head of t-he plungers will be maintained flush with the periphery of the wheel around to the point at which the pocket is to receive another package just before this point is reached.,

The stud 25 will run onto a receding part of the cam, leaving the plunger free to be pushed in radially' by the package. When the head of the plunger is flush with the periphery of the wheel, it will have a frictional engagement with the spring plate 20 and thus when the package is moved against it, it will keep the units of the package in l The spring plate 2O has the further function of applying a slight pressure to the units of the package to hold them in the pocket to prevent their displace ment until the wrapper is sealed. This is elfected by making the plunger-head a trifle narrower than the .package and rounding the edges of the plate 20 and the opposite rigid wall of the'pocket so that the package, when forced into'the pocket, will just push said plate out of contact with the head of the plunger, see Fig. 13. The outside wrappers for the ackage of grouped sticks of gum are indicated by 26, and are shown stacked in the frame 27 Fig. 13. These are delivered one by one from the bottom of the pile and are caught at the forward end by the nippers 28, and so positioned that the rear end of the wrappers will overlap one of the pockets d, the terms forward and rear being used relativeto the direction of movement of the wrappers, which direction is indicated by the arrow, on Fig. 13. T o feed the wrappers 26,' a rectangular opening is made in the forward edge of the bottom of the frame 27 and extending across the latter, and a tubular member 29 isA located therein being pivotally supported near itsrear edge so that its fiat upper side will be in contact with t-he underside of the lowermost wrapper in the stack, and close to the forward end. of the wrapper. -This tubular member29 has closed ends and has perforaticns along the upper 'face thereof in contact with the wrapper; and, as shown in `Fig. 14, one end of this member has connected to it a tube 30 (see lFig. 14) extending to a pump (not shown) whereby the air is exhausted from said member through its axis. When the wheel c comes to a stop in its intermittent movement and one pocket is recense receiving, and another havin ejected therefrom, a package of sticks o gum, another pocket will be locatednear the lower front end of the frame 27, and as this pocket moves towardv this position an arm 31, on the axis of the nipper 28, will come in contact with the edge of a cam-plate 32 (see Fig. 1) and swing the nipper over to the position shown just in front of the frame 27 and simultaneously the forward edge of the tubular member 29 will swing down carrying with it the forward edge of 4the lowermost wrapper in the stack, locating the latter over the rib 33. The tubular member 29 is actuated bythe crank-arm 29a .and connecting rod 29b extending to a cam on the shaft 35. At this moment the cam plate 32 will be given a quick rearward movement to release the nipper and allow the latter to snap down ontothe edge of the wrapper just before the wheel c makes its next forward step. This cam-plate 32 has the further function of releasing the nipper from the wrapper of the package that has just been pushed into one .of the pockets from the end of the transfer tube 3, the form of the canrplate being such that when its lupper end moves to the left to release the nipper in front of the stack of wrappers, the vlower endwill -swing to the -right and trip the opposite nipper, as just described, to release the end of the wrapper that is to be gu-mmed. Immediately after the wheel c has commenced its forward step the cam-plate 32 will be swung back again to the position shown in .Fig 1, that is in position to cause the next following nipper to be swung open-ready to engage another wrapper. This movement of the cam-plate 32 is effected by means of the `connecting rod 34 extending to, and engaging, a suit-able cam (notshown) o-n the shaft35. As soon as the nipper in front of the frame 27 has 'engaged the edge of the wrapper, the wheel c makes another step forward and draws the wrapper out from beneath the stack in said frame. It will be seen that the length of thewrapper is such that its rear end will overlie, and extend ysome distance beyond, the next following,

which is the pocket which will receive thev allowed to fall forward and downwar as lso messes shown, to the end that when it reaches the gumming devices, it will hang straight down in front of the plate 37, and while in this position, the gumroll 38 carried in the pair of arms 39, will be swung up against the lower edge of the wrapper, as shown in Fig. 13, and thegum roll will remain in contact therewith until another rota-tive movement of the wheel draws the wrapper forward rotating the gum roll 'and applying gum from the point where the roll first touches the wrapper to the extreme end thereof. To insure good contact between the gumroll and the wrapper, the plate 37 is hinged at. its upper end and its lower end is held out by a spring 40 to meet the gum roll and yield slightly when the roll comes in contact with it. After the gum has been applied to a wrapper, the gum roll is swung over on the roll 41 in the gum-box 42, and takes up another supply of gum for the next wrapper. This gumming mechanism is well known, and, per se,iforms no part of the invention. From the point where gum is applied to the wrapper to the point of deliv eryof the sealed package, viz.,-one fourth of one complete rotation of the wheeh-t-he periphery of the latter is encircled by a plate 39 concentric therewith and set as close to thewheel as necessary to hold the gummed end of the wrapper in position to be wrapped around the package when the latter is ejected from its pocket and pushed into the delivery trough 44, this ejection and transfer serving to press the free gummed end ofthe wrapper against the opposite end thereof. This ejection is made by the cam fed into the machine, together with endfolding mechanism interposed in the path of the articles passing through the machine, meansto move said end folding mechanism across the path of the articles first in one direction and then in the other, all constructed and arranged so that .the ends of.

the wrappers inclosin said articles are folded#A over the ends o 'certain of them in one directionand over the ends of certain other of said articles in the opposite direction.

2. In a wrapping machine, mechanism to successively fold a wrapper around articles fed into the machine,other `mechanisn'i for bunching together a predetermined number of such articles to constitute a package, together with end-folding mechanism 'mierposed between the wrapping and launching mechanisms and comprising a member hav ing a swinging movement across the athof the articles passing through the mac ine, means for folding the ends of the wrappers iii opposite directions over the ends ofthe articles being located in dier'ent parts of said swinging member, means being provided to swing said member at predetermined intervals. 4 v

3. In a wrapping machine,a wheel having open peripheral pockets to receive articles of uniform size, and wrapping mechanism associated therewith to fold a wrapper around said articles in one direction; endfoldingdevices to fold the ends of the wrappers, certain of them over, 'and certain :a mechanism, operable during the rotation of the wheel, to collect said articles into groups having the same number of units, together with mechanism to inclose each o f said groups in a wrapper.

4. In a wrapping machine,a wheel having peripheral pockets therein to receive single articles, another wheel having peripheral pockets therein to receive a group of said in the same plane, and said second wheel having a step-by-step movement, means interposed between t-he two wheels to group together a certain number of said single articles, and means to transfer said group to a pocket in the second wheel, said means provided with like oppositely facing channels to receive the opposite ends of lsaid grouped articles,I and a member movable between said channeled members to move said group into the pocket of said second wheel, together with wrapping mechanism associated with said second wheel to inclose said group in a band wrapper. l v

5. In a wrapping machine, a wlieel having open peripheral pockets to receive articles of uniform size, and wrapping mechanism associated therewith to fold a wrapper around said articles in one direct-ion, endfolding devices to fold the ends of the wrapper, certain of them over and certain of4 them under the ends of the articles; another wheel having an intermittent rotative movement, and open peripheral pockets to receive a group consisting of a predetermined number of, said articles, a transfer* single articles, said wheels being rotatable comprising two oppositely located members and spring-clips projecting ntov said chan- I and through'l ythe channeled members n'to im nels to Support said articles during the grouping thereof; means associated with said rst Wheelfto trnsfer the articles from the pockets .thereof into the open end of said channeled merpbers, yand other meche- 1 `Wtnesses2 nism, periodically operable, to move a group WM. H. CHAHN, of said articles pest said supporting clips HARRY W. BOWEN.

pockerF of the second Wheel, together with ,10

mechanism associated with zthe latter to nelose said group in aband Wrapper.

HENRY KEMPF. 

